Syd Kitson: 2025 Legends Award Winner
Syd Kitson, founder of Babcock Ranch, has been awarded the 2025 Legends Award by Zonda Home’s Builder Magazine. The Legends Award recognizes exceptional leaders and teams who have made groundbreaking contributions to future-proofing master-planned communities. Honored for his visionary work in creating America’s solar-powered town that has become a national model for storm resilience, this […]
Realtor.com: Inside America’s First Solar-Powered Community
America’s first solar-powered community has had a “mind-blowing” effect on residents’ power bills—and it’s even getting attention for surviving Hurricane Milton unscathed, and without losing power. Billed as “the Hometown of Tomorrow,” this planned community in Punta Gorda, FL, just 15 miles from Fort Myers, is fueled by solar energy, thanks to the 880-acre solar […]
A Hands-On Solar Experience at Babcock Ranch’s FPL Eco-Discovery Center
Babcock Ranch is not just any community—it’s America’s First Solar-Powered Town. With a strong commitment to sustainability, resilience, and technological innovation, Babcock Ranch leads the way in creating a living environment that is both eco-friendly and future-forward. One of the most exciting attractions here is the Solar Ranch – an FPL Eco-Discovery Center, a place […]
SolarButterfly Visits Babcock Ranch
The SolarButterfly, a 30-foot, solar-powered, self-sustainable residential vehicle, visited Babcock Ranch—also known as America’s first solar-powered town, on it’s 4-year global tour to show the world that there are solutions against Global Warming. Read more about their visit in this Gulfshore Business article.
Babcock Ranch featured in New York Times article on solar power
Not every energy-resilient community is classified as a microgrid. Babcock Ranch, a development about 15 miles northeast of Fort Myers, Fla., calls itself the nation’s first solar-powered town. Babcock Ranch has an 870-acre solar farm to power the community, including two solar array systems totaling 150 megawatts of capacity, a transmission substation (with another being […]
Babcock Ranch Featured at Aspen Ideas: Climate Conference
Babcock Ranch, which is powered entirely by solar, was designed for resilience, said Kitson as he spoke to the crowd on the final day of the conference. The 150-megawatt solar facility has 700,000 panels, and weathered the hurricane well. Kitson took a rare approach to developing land. The firm bought the 91,000-acre ranch in 2006, […]
America’s First Solar Community Coming To Life In Florida
Fox News reporter, Phil Keating reports on the progress of the development that hopes to become America’s first self-sustaining city, Babcock Ranch. It’s now the country’s first, fully solar city. A dream starting to come true for new residents, like Josh and Jasmin Day. To watch the full segment click here.
Babcock Ranch, Lee Health leaders light it up with friendly power competition
Babcock Ranch Developer Syd Kitson, and Lee Health president and CEO Larry Antonucci, and their teams took part in a friendly competition at the ribbon cutting ceremony for Lee Health’s Healthy Life Center at Babcock Ranch. The facility has the first electricity-generating workout equipment in the US, and that’s just one of the elements that […]
Announcing Battery Storage at the FPL Babcock Ranch Solar Energy Center
Babcock Ranch’s clean energy efforts were taken to the next level when FPL created the largest solar-plus-storage system operating in the U.S. today. Each of the ten large gray steel battery storage units at the FPL Babcock Ranch Solar Energy Center can store 1 megawatt of power and discharge for 4 hours. The adjacent 440 […]
Babcock Ranch Featured on The Weather Channel
Syd Kitson, Chairman and CEO of Kitson & Partners, spoke to The Weather Channel about the effects of Hurricane Irma at Babcock Ranch. Listen to Syd as he talks about the history of Babcock Ranch, our solar fields, and the minimal impacts we felt from Hurricane Irma in September 2017. “The eye of the storm […]
